Rectangular or box shaped ducts are extensively used in heating and ventilating systems to distribute heated or cooled air throughout the structure. These ducts are commonly formed from different gauges of sheet metal in sections of predetermined length which are then connected to form a continuous duct for distributing air. Each section of duct is formed by bending two pieces of sheet metal of the desired length at a ninety degree angle and with the Pittsburgh type seam one edge of each piece is formed with a longitudinally extending groove to form the female portion of the joint while the other edge is bent over along its length to form the male portion of the joint. The two parts are then assembled by inserting the male portion of each part into the female portion leaving an edge extending beyond the joint from the female portion, which edge must then be bent over to lock the seam. Apparatus are known in which to automatically close the duct seam, including a Pittsburgh seam, including the commercial apparatus sold by the Iowa Precision Industries Division of Mestek Machinery, Inc. (“IPI”) under the trademark WHISPER-LOC®. The WHISPER-LOC® machine has been commercially successful in the marketplace for automatically seaming duct work. Such apparatus are also disclosed in IPI's U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,784, issued Mar. 2, 1993, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,750, issued Sep. 14, 1993, and Engel Industries, Inc.'s U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,616, issued Oct. 11, 1994, the disclosures of these patents are incorporated in their entirety herein by reference. When seaming duct work using the WHISPER-LOC® machine or the apparatus and methods disclosed in these patents, the duct must be inserted into the machine in a specific orientation to close the seam.
There is also disclosed in the art an apparatus and method for seaming a Pittsburgh seam in a vertical apparatus wherein the seam is said to be completed regardless of the orientation of the male and female portions of the Pittsburgh seam as disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2012/0186316, published Jul. 26, 2012, and 2013/0104614, published May 2, 2013, the disclosures of which are incorporated in their entirety herein by reference.
Additionally, apparatus and methods for placement of angle plates in transverse duct flanges are known and disclosed in Systemation, Inc.'s U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,283,944; 5,321,880; and 5,342,100, the disclosures of these patents being incorporated in their entirety herein by reference. Commercial apparatus using the inventions of these patents have been sold under the trademark CORNERMATIC® by IPI. These machines have been commercially successful and have transformed the industry with respect to the insertion of angle plates into duct work. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,937 discloses a mobile apparatus for placement of angle plates in transverse duct flanges, the disclosure therein being incorporated in its entirety herein by reference. This latter patented technology has been manufactured commercially by IPI and sold under the trademark CORNER CADET®.
The CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® apparatus and methods have been commercially successful. They have saved the industry substantial time and money and made the insertion of angle plates into ducts substantially easier for sheet metal fabricators, including saving wear and tear on the human body. However, the CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines usually cannot accept irregular shaped duct fittings referred to in the industry and herein as “fittings.” As such, workers must manually insert the angle plates into the fittings.
Accordingly, while the CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines have been an extremely successful “work-horse” in duct fabricating shops, improvement to these machines and methods are possible, including with respect to fittings. An improved apparatus and method for automatically inserting angle plates into duct flanges has been invented and is disclosed in Systemation's U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 14/211,733 and 14/211,921, both filed on Mar. 14, 2014, entitled “Apparatus and Method for Placement of Angle Plates in Transverse Duct Flanges,” the disclosures of which are incorporated in their entirety herein by reference (collectively referred to as “the '733 Application”). This new apparatus includes novel features and improvements over the CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines including, but not limited to, (1) a new apparatus for the automatic insertion of angle plates into duct flanges, including fittings; (2) a new clamp for clamping duct flanges; (3) a new supply hopper located out of the area of operation; (4) a new presser for pressing the angle plates into the duct flanges; (5) a new package for angle plates; and (6) combinations of the above and other features of the apparatus as disclosed in the '733 Application. This new apparatus is now being sold by IPI under the trademark CORNERMATIC® PLUS™. In its short time on the market, the CORNERMATIC® PLUS™ apparatus has received market acceptance.
Additionally, there is disclosed in the '733 Application a new packaging for the angle plates which packages include a plurality of angle plates, including eighty angle plates, which may be inserted directly into the hopper, thereby saving the time and expense associated with the manual insertion of the angle plates in limited numbers. The packaging may include a plurality of angle plates contained in a self-contained cardboard package.
Additionally, Systemation's U.S. Pat. No. 5,283,944 discloses a proposed combination of a seam closer for a Pittsburgh seam and automatically inserting angle plates into a duct section including as referenced at FIG. 19 of the patent. However, this conception has never been reduced to practice and there are no known apparatus for automatically inserting angle plates into the piece of duct and automatically closing the seam of a piece of duct. Accordingly, there is a need in the market for a single machine which will automatically insert angle plates into a piece of duct and will automatically close the seam of the piece of duct. Such apparatus will be substantially beneficial to the industry as, among other things, it will save the expense to contractors of having to have two machines in their shop to automatically insert angle plates and to close a seam; it will save space in a manufacturer's shop by eliminating the need for two machines when one machine will do the same job; it will save contractors time as the single machine will accomplish that of two machines in a shorter period of time and, therefore, also save labor costs; and it will make the manufacture of duct easier and more efficient.